New Grad and AORN Periop 101

kinbari08, BSN · Jan 30, 2015

If you can get into an OR residency/internship program at a hospital after you graduate, they should pay for you to do Peri-Op 101. That's how it was for me. I've heard of some community colleges offering it, but that's rare. It's a very expensive course to take (I think my educator told me it was 700-800 dollars for each student) and I think you need to be affilated with a hospital or school that offers it to even be authorized to take it.

To be honest, you can't really be prepared for the OR environment as a newbie since it's a whole different world that most nursing students don't get to experience. Reading stuff from the Peri-Op course is helpful but to really learn how to be an OR nurse you need the hands-on experiences you have daily on the job.

Good luck to you. I love the OR and couldn't imagine working anywhere else!

Nurse Sasha · Jan 30, 2015

Check out AORN.org for information on the Perioperative nurse's professional organization. The Annual AORN national conference hosts a student education session for student nurses at their expo each year. You can find info on the website - is there a chapter in your area? If so, perhaps you could visit a local chapter meeting. You can join the organization - student membership dues are available at a reduced price. This could be a great networking opportunity to get to know some local OR nurses. Often new grads find it hard to get hired into an OR directly out of school, this could be a " foot in the door " for you to find a job in OR. Good luck!

MursingStudent18 · Mar 27, 2015

as I'm doing the program now, the online mods would be nice, but without doing a preceptorship in an actual OR, i don't know how this would be all that beneficial to you. i mean it separates you from joe the new grad, but without actual hands on experience, again, i don't know how beneficial it is in the long run

brighidh · Mar 29, 2015

As a new grad only a few months into an OR internship, I can tell you that no amount of out-of-the-OR preparation is going to really stick before you get in there and start doing it. PeriOp 101 is necessary, IMO, in conjunction with actual exposure to the OR.

If you want to make yourself stand out as a candidate -- stress multi-tasking abilities, ability to get along with a lot of different people and good communication skills.